Searching for Proof?

Well, you aren't going to find it. However, Roger Clarke's Ghosts, a natural history: 500 years of searching for proof, is a fascinating read. It's "a comprehensive, authoritative, and readable history of the evolution of the ghost in western culture, examinging the behavior of the subject in its preferred environment: the stories we tell each other." For me, it has always been about the stories. But here Clarke adds to the stories by revealing how they changed over time, what the real basis of the stories were, and really interesting how class status plays into the whole thing. Even though scientists or upper class people wanted to investigate, they didn't want other people to know of their interests. Whereas, with the middle class it was all out. What I found particularly fascinating was how much science was developed that we use today, that was originally invented to help prove or disprove ghosts! From NYTIMES REVIEW "Roger Clarke tells this and many other gloriously weird stories with real verve, and also a kind of narrative authority that tends to constrain the skeptical voice within". Just in time for next month BOOOOOOO!